Free Republic

The African Matabele ants are often injured in fights with termites. Their conspecifics recognise when the wounds become infected and initiate antibiotic treatment. A Matabele ant tends to the wound of a fellow ant whose legs were bitten off in a fight with termites. (Image: Erik Frank / Universität Würzburg) The Matabele ants (Megaponera analis), which are widespread south of the Sahara, have a narrow diet: They only eat termites. Their hunting expeditions are dangerous because termite soldiers defend their conspecifics – and use their powerful mandibles to do so. It is therefore common for the ants to be injured...

here are essentially two ways to heal a wound: 1) Primary intent: bringing the wound edges together via bandage, suture, or glue. 2) Secondary intent: allowing the wound to heal “as is” when primary intent is not indicated (such as a very contaminated, dirty wound with multiple deep entry points). It’s important to close a wound by primary intent for several reasons: 1) Hemostasis (stopping bleeding): because if you lacerated a vessel with your injury, you will need to ligate it somehow. Granted, if you lacerate a major artery, you will just need to apply pressure because ligating it may...